Marcio André interview: Las Vegas Open win, 2017 Worlds

05/03/2017 |
Written by: Eduardo Ferreira

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Marcio André. IBJJF/Facebook.

Marcio André, 22, continues on in his season-long bid to win gold at the 2017 Jiu-Jitsu World Championship. To get there in top shape, the Nova União fighter has been fighting a few of the open tournaments organized by the IBJJF this year, like the Las Vegas one, which ended last weekend in Nevada.

Fighting in the lightweight division, Marcio won two matches to secure the gold. First the submitted Marcus Cole (Grappling Unlimited) via triangle just ten seconds in. Then he swept and passed the guard of Rodrigo Freitas (Rodrigo Freitas) in the final.

“To me, it was a good championship,” he told Graciemag afterwards. “I didn’t yield any points or advantages throughout the competition. I fought aggressively the whole time, and I’m happy about that. Now I’m happy to be competing more. I used basic moves like, for example, the triangle during my first fight. I pulled and did the triangle to finish. That move is a drill I’ve been doing since I was a kid.”

Marcio went on to analyze the final against Rodrigo Freitas. “He is a very tough opponent,” he said. “It is the third time I’ve fought him. I was able to impose my guard pass and use my sweep with the lapel to win, thank God. I can barely wait to fight again. This is my life — I really was born to fight.”

Despite fighting amongst the lightweights at the Euro, the Pan and the recent opens — Marcio also won gold at the N.Y. Open last month, — the Fabio Andrade pupil says he will compete in the 2017 World Championship in the featherweight division, which is his usual division since his juvenile days and where he won world championships as a blue-, purple- and brown-belt.

“I already have my nutrition balanced, and I’m almost at the ideal weight for the featherweight division,” he said. “Last year I came close to the gold, and it eluded me in the final minutes, by one advantage. That loss in the final left me much stronger than I imagined, and now I am more mature. I’m happy for everything that has been going on in my life. The chief goal is the Worlds; I want to write a new chapter in my career with the world title at the black belt.”